Combined fire-escape and alarm.



Nu. 638,600. Patented Dec. 5, I899. v. & E. v. SCHIBMER.

COMBINED FIRE ESCAPE AND ALARM.

(Application filed Apr. 27, 1899.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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inn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VALENTINE SOHIRMER AND EDWARD V. SOHIRMER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

COMBlNED FIRE-ESCAPE AND ALARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 638,600, dated December 5, 1899.

Application filed April 27, 1899. Serial No. 714,731. (No modell To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that W6,VALENTINE SOHIRMER and EDWARD V. SCHIRMER, of the city of New York, borough of Bronx, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Fire-Escape and Alarm, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to fire-escapes of a class wherein a flexible ladder is employed and hung from a building for escape of the occupants through the windows and down the ladder to the ground.

The object of our invention is to provide a fire-escape of the indicated character which is of novel simple construction that adapts the ladder for concealment within the building, renders it capable of instant release for assuming a pendent position at the front of the building, provides a ladder that is of a width and length extending before all the windows of an ordinary building, and also provides means to secure the ladder in taut condition by hooks that engage eyes on the pavement directly below the lower end of the pendent ladder.

The invention also embodies simple means for releasing an alarm in any preferred place in the building at the instant the ladder is released to fall into pendent adj ustment," whereby to alarm all occupants of the building, so that they may escape therefrom.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described, and defined in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawin gs, forming a partof this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a building having the improved fire-escapeladder pendent at the front and secured in taut condi' tion. Fig. 2 is a sectional side view of the building, broken away at the upper portion to expose features of the invention, the flexible ladder being in rolled condition. Fig. 3

is a transverse sectional elevation of the upper portion of the building, showing features of the invention therein, the section being substantially on the line 3 3 in Fig. 2.

Fig.

4 is an enlarged transverse sectional elevation of the top portion of the building and of details of the invention, substantially on the line 4 4 in Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary portion of the flexible ladder, showing its construction.

In carrying into effect the novel details of our improvement, A represents a building to be protected by the fire-escape. Upon the building A, at its top, a reel-box 6 is located, which preferably extends across the same, and the front wall of the box is slotted for traverse of the ladder 7. In the box 6 areelframe is located, comprising two end plates 8 8, held spaced apart by bars 9, as shown in Fig. 4, and the frame is secured in place by vas shown in Fig. 2, and have their end portions, near the joints or of each brace-rod, se-

cured by bolts or equivalent means upon the end plates 8 8. The brace-rods 11 extend to the rear wall of the building and when completed are secured thereto by any suitable means, which adapts said brace-rods to transmit part of the load strain to the rear wall of the building.

On the frame-plates 8 8-the reel 12 is rotatably mounted, and consists of a preferably solid roller having circular collar-flanges 19 formed or secured near the ends of said roller, journals 0 being provided on the extremities of the roller for a loose engagement with alined perforations in the end plates 8 8, as shown in Fig. 4. Between the journal 0 and flange b on one end of the roller-body 12 a cylindric friction-hub g is formed, whereon is mounted the band h of a friction-brake. The ends of the friction-band h are loosely secured upon studs that project laterally from the rockable lever 11, which is pivoted upon the inner side of one frame-plate 8, as shown in Fig. 2. The lever t, by means of its support on the frame-wall 8 and pivoted connection of the ends of the band it thereon,

.is adapted when pressed downwardly at the s end of said lever being held depressed when this is desired by a pivoted dog m, that is loosely held on a base-plate 5 which is a flat rearward extension of the flanges 8 on said plate, as shown in Fig. 2, said dog being adapted for release from the lever, as occasion may'require, by means which will be hereinafter described.

The ladder before mentioned preferably comprises any desired number of flexible steel or iron wire ropes 7 of proper diameter and having a length that will adapt them to extend from near the top of a building to within about eight feet of the pavement in front of said building. Each adjacent pairof the wire ropes have these side members of a ladder held spaced apart in parallel planes by the ladder-rungs 7 which may have eyes at their ends to receive said side members, as clearly shown in Fig. 5. The rungs 7 may be held upon the ropes 7 by any preferred means, one means that may be regarded as ad vantageous consisting of a series of similar spacing-sleeves 7" for each side member of a wire rope 7, these sleeves of equal length being mounted upon the side ropes of each ladder-section and having their ends engaged with the eyes of the rungs 7, which will hold the latter-named members of each ladder-section spaced evenly. The sleeves 7 must be fireproof and may with advantage be formed of asbestos-fiber cloth, which will be, pliable and heat-resisting sufficiently to prevent injury to the hands of persons grasping said sleeves in traversing the ladder.

It will be seen in Fig. 1 that the rungs in the different ladder-sections are not directly in the same line in adjacent ladder-sections, but are preferably arranged so that the rungs of one ladder-section are disposed opposite spaces between the rungs of the ladder next to it. This disposes the weight on the several side ropes '7, so that the load strain is distributed along the side ropes at different points for each ladder-section. The width of the ladder complete is sufficient to permit its extension in front of a number of vertical rows of windows in a building.

The upper ends of the side ropes 7 are secured upon or through the roller-body 12 at proper intervals, as indicated in Fig. 4c, and the opposite extremities of said ropes are suitably secured upon a heavy bottom rail 13, that extends past the outer side ropes of the ladder, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The bottom rail 13 is formed of weighty wood and may be incased with sheet metal or other fireproof material. Said rail has such a di ameter and length as will adapt it to completely close the slot 02 in the cornice A of the building A, through which the ladder of entire width passes to and from the reelroller 12.

At each end of the bottom rail 13 gum springs 13 are secured and may be shaped as balls, similar to those shown in Fig. 1, or have any other available form. The gum springs 13 afford a neat finish for the bottom rail 13, and when they are drawn into onforced contact with the edges of the slot nby a wrapped adjustment of the composite ladder upon the roller 12 the compression of the gum springs adapt them to give the bottom rail a descending impetus if the brake-lever 2' is released, and the ladder is thus rendered free to unwrap from the roller 12. If the composite ladder is released, so that the heavy bottom rail 13 descends and unwraps the flexible ladder from the roller-body 12, the sudden arrest of the rail 13 when the ladder is fully extended will serve to remove kinks of the lad der, and the latter will hang straight in front of the windows of the building A, a short distance removed from said window, so as to be accessible for men, women, and children,w-ho may pass from any of the windows upon the ladder and descend thereon.

At points near each end of the bottom rail 13 a hook-bar 14: is loosely secured, these bars being held on the rail free to fold thereon toward each other, as is indicated by dotted.

lines in Fig. 1. When the hook-bars 14 are folded, they are held in said adjustment by a keeper-bar 15, which is pivoted at its center, and therefore may be rocked laterally of the bottom rail 13, so as to retain or'release the hook-bars. If the ladder is lowered completely, it will be so removed from the ground" at the lower end that the bottom rail 13 will be a few feet from the pavement, and the length of the hook-bars 14 is so proportionedthat said hook-bars may when hanging pendent have their hook ends 14 engaged with eyes 0, that are fixtures on the pavement or sidewalk.

Referring again to the reel whereon the composite ladder is hung, said reel is preferably rotated for wrapping the ladder thereon by means of a lever or hand-spike, (not shown,) which may have one end of it inserted into any of the perforations I), made at spaced intervals in the peripheries of the flanges b, and

by a rockable movement wrap up the ladder upon the reel in an obvious manner, the friction brake device for the reel serving to hold the ladder from unwrapping as the reel is rotated by application of the lever or handspike to successive perforations in the flange which may be the division-walls of suites of rooms in adjoining flats, or said double partition-wall may be the side wall of a main hall that is separated thereby from a tier'of rooms in the building.

As represented in Fig. 3, the partition=walls IIO A separate two tiers of rooms, and through suitable perforations tin the side walls or partition-walls A lateral flexible connections 17 extend from the main flexible connection 16 into each room of each tier of rooms A On the free ends of the short flexible connections 17 knobs may be placed to afiord convenient handholds, which by pulling applied thereto in any room so provided will put draft strain upon the main flexible connection 16, which in turn will pull upon the dog on and lift it, thus releasing the frictional contact of the band it upon the hub g, whereupon the weight of the heavy bottom rail 13 will be free to pull the ladder through the slot 01 and lower the ladder, as before explained.

Upon the flexible connection 16 another flexible connection 18 is attached at one end and is thence extended over loose pulleys u or otherwise downwardly for connection with an alarm device 19 of any approved construction, that may be placed at any desired point in the building, and it is intended that the alarm device be sufficiently loud in sound it emits to wake or alarm all occupants of the building.

It is apparent that the improved fire'escape device is simple, practical, and very convenient for use and that when not in service may beheld in the building, so as to protect it from the elements, but in a manner which will permit the strength of a small child to set the machinery in operation for effecting the descent of the ladder in front of the windows of the building.

Owing to the considerable width of the composite ladder many people may escape from the building, if it is afire, and not impede each other in descending the ladder, and as the latter may be with ease secured in taut condition it then becomes a safe and easilytraversed means of descent from windows of a burning building2 It is also apparent that the composite ladder hereinbefore described may serve as a ready means for access of firemen to rescue small children from different rooms of a burning building, as persons may move up and down on each side of the ladder without obstructing each others way up or down.

The provision of means to set an alarm device sounding simultaneously with the descent of the ladder, to warn occupants of the house that it is on fire, is also a very valuable and novel provision, which is a feature of our present improvements.

Having thus fully described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination with a building slotted across the upper portion, of a ladder made from a plurality of flexible side strands and foot-rungs held spaced on said side strands in alternating order to distribute draft strain on the side strands, a heavy bottom rail on said composite ladder, and a reel near the slot, adapted to contain the flexible ladder that passes through said slot and which may descend to hang in front of the windows of the building.

2. The combination with a building slotted across the upper portion, a reel in the building opposite the slot therein, a friction-brake on said reel, a dog engaging a controlling-1ever of the brake, a flexible connection extending to another part of the building, and brancheflexible connections extending laterally from the main flexible connection into a plurality of rooms of the building, for manipulation therein, of a ladder comprising a plurality of ladder-sections joined together laterally, a heavy bottom rail on said ladder, two longitudinally-foldable hook-bars on the bottom rail, a keeper-bar on said rail adapted to hold the hook-bars folded and means to secure the hooks pendent and the ladder taut.

3. In a fire escape of the character described, the sectional ladder formed of flexible material, and adapted when pendent to extend in front of several rows of windows in a building, a heavy bottom rail on said composite ladder to hold it taut, securable hookbars on the bottom rail, a keeper-bar adapted to retain the hook-bars folded, and bulbous elastic springs on the ends of the bottom rail.

VALENTINE SOHIRMER. EDWARD V. SOHIRMER.

Witnesses:

WM. P. PATTON, J NO. M. BITTER. 

